LONDON (ShareCast) - (ShareCast News) - Engineering and technology recruitment firm Gattaca provided a pre-close trading update for the six months to 31 January on Thursday, reporting "solid results" during a period of some instability in the UK, following the EU referendum in June 2016.
The AIM-traded company said it continued to position itself for maximising growth opportunities both in the UK and internationally.

Accordingly, whilst the board was still monitoring uncertainty in the wider economy, it continued to invest selectively in strengthening the business to support its medium and longer term performance.

Having made such investments over the last 12 months, the phasing of planned client projects in the second half of the year and the improving performance of its IT Division, the board said it has confidence that profit for the full year will be in line with its previous expectations.

Net fee income in the period was £35.1m, down 2%, with both contract and permanent fees declining by 2%.

In constant currency terms, net fee income was down 5%, with contract down 4% and permanent down 6%.

Engineering NFI was down 4% to £21.1m, the board said, with growth in the engineering, technology and aerospace sectors offset by weakness in most other sectors as the time to hire lengthened following the outcome of the EU referendum.

Vacancy flow continued to be strong, however.

Technology NFI was down 6% to £14.0m, with IT seeing a return to growth, up 1% following a year of decline

However, Gattaca said telecoms declined 14%, with a flat year-on-year performance in the UK offset by delays in a number of client projects internationally.

The company also announced the acquisition of Resourcing Solutions Limited on Thursday.

It said RSL operates from three UK offices in Reading, Uxbridge and Derby, providing specialist contract and permanent candidates to clients operating in the rail, power and built environment sectors.

"This is a solid set of results, achieved during a period of economic uncertainty in the UK and the US," said Gattaca CEO Brian Wilkinson.

"We are pleased that demand in the UK for skilled engineers remains robust and vacancy flow is increasing, however uncertainty has led to elongated hiring decisions."

Wilkinson said the board was working to strengthen the group, with the aim to become the leading specialist engineering and technology recruiter.

"We are pleased to have completed the acquisition of Resourcing Solutions Limited, broadening our capability in the UK's rail, power and built environment markets where we are seeing continued investment."

The group said it expects to announce its interim results for the six months to 31 January on 20 April.

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